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The Pure, the Pious and the Preyed Upon; A Celebration of Celibacy and the Erasure of Young Women's Sexual Agency

Thesis advisor: Zine Magubane / Using content analysis of the three largest United States Newsweeklies this thesis explores representations of young women's sexuality during the early 2000's. While popular culture during this period is focused on "Girls Gone Wild" causing widespread feminist concern over the "third wave's" definition of a feminist sexuality, no young women with sexual agency are presented in the magazines. Instead the women presented, who are overwhelmingly white, are either too pure to posses any information regarding sexual activities, engaged in sexual activities that they are coerced or forced into, or are celibate. The combination of these discourses expose a narrative of female empowerment through chastity that mirrors the Victorian-era ideals of white womanhood. Using post-colonial theory the thesis argues that this representation, combined with the erasure of all other alternatives is indicative of a identity crisis within the collective United Sates conscious. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_101505
Date January 2009
CreatorsBachechi, Kimberly N.
PublisherBoston College
Source SetsBoston College
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, thesis
Formatelectronic, application/pdf
RightsCopyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted.

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